I do both transfers to airline and hotel (united and Hyatt only at this point) and redemptions via the Chase travel portal and I do enough of the latter at the 1.5 rate for it to cover the difference and more between CSP and CSR annual fee.

I would also like to drive myself all the time, however there are many scenarios where I don't - for example, #1 airport parking can be really expensive and even more so if you don't book in advance so we'll take a Lyft or Uber and leave the car in the driveway, #2 at some destinations such as London and Hong Kong we don't rent cars as we're not comfortable with the opposite side of the road driving so we rely on rideshares and public transportation, #3 if we're not going to get much use of a car rental at a particular destination and only need to get to/from the airport we will rely on rideshare as well, #4 we have teens that don't drive and we're not always available to chauffeur them, so rideshare it is again.

Bottom line, is that everyone has a different life style and needs and there isn't a 1 card/benefit fits all approach.

I do fully agree with you that the coupon book from Amex is super annoying and wish that they would just give a lump sum. Although I do end up using Uber and bonvoy dining and plat wireless credits, I find it tedious and a headache to remember the latter 2 (Uber is automatically used in the next ride/uber eats order so I find that pretty much effortless).

Just last week I had a surprisingly pleasant experience with Chase Travel. I booked a car rental for my spouse with Enterprise via Chase travel online. Price was the same as direct so we figured we may as well cover the cost with points.

A week prior to this rental, my husband had to renew his driver's license and was given a temporary paper print out license valid until the end of October, but was told that the new one should arrive in about 2 weeks (incidentally, it arrived today). At the time of the rental last week he did not have the replacement license yet and Enterprise refused to give him a car using the temporary license. They told him they will refund the full price of the rental. I called Chase and told them the whole story and asked what will happen now since I had paid with points. They said they will research and get back to me. The following day they called my but I wasn't available so they left me a voicemail stating that they spoke to Enterprise and confirmed the refund and we would get our points reimbursed. I thought that was the end of it. However, they called me AGAIN the following day and I did pick up and was told the same thing again - they wanted to make sure that I knew this issue was resolved and I'd be getting my points back. So this was a really different experience than I was expecting. In my mind I was preparing for a long drawn out battle to attempt to get my points back and I'm obviously happy that didn't end up being the case.

TLDR: Chase travel portal easily refunded my points for a car rental reservation that Enterprise refused to honor. They're not always all bad.

Just as a side not, my husband then went over to Hertz counter and they had no issue renting a car to him - an even better car for lower cost so that was great .